Effective pain management

The treatment of pain in cats is an area that as yet hers received relatively little consideration. There are a number of reasons Sor this shortcoming, bur the most likely are the difficulty involved in recognising pain, the mistaken conception that veterinary surgeons have of pain irt cats and the lack of knowledge and practical experience with the products, especially morphine-like products, and local and regional techniques in anaesthesia and analgesia such as the epidural block. There are several reasons for intensifying the Else of analgesies in our feline patients, notably the ethical, economic and above all medical reasons. Morphine-like drugs, non-steroidal antiinflammatories, local anaesthetics dissociated anaesthetics, anti alpha(2)-adrenergie receptor agonists are among the different analgesics that can be used effectively and safely, without forgetting the non-pharmacological analgesic steps that can be taken too. Each product ol technique has its own specific property its benefits and its restrictions. In the course of utilisation, it would seem important to treat pain as soon as possible and even to do so preventively in the event of surgery by liberally using a pilot protocol to which may be added other agents, the complementary action of which proves to be helpful.